Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Up 1.4% - Still a Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report)'s stock price shot up 1.4% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $201.40 and last traded at $198.05. 8,378,121 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 65% from the average session volume of 23,768,885 shares. The stock had previously closed at $195.41.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on GOOGL. Scotiabank raised Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $209.82.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.9 %

The stock's 50 day moving average price is $187.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $173.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The company has a market cap of $2.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.63, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.98.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,834 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $550,702.88. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,847 shares in the company, valued at $3,468,029.04. The trade was a 13.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,820,779.40. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 122,887 shares of company stock valued at $22,470,464 over the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 10.9% in the 2nd quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 203,376 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $36,306,000 after buying an additional 19,961 shares during the last quarter. L & S Advisors Inc lifted its position in Alphabet by 77.3% during the second quarter. L & S Advisors Inc now owns 106,052 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $19,317,000 after purchasing an additional 46,223 shares during the period. Foresight Global Investors Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 14.3% in the second quarter. Foresight Global Investors Inc. now owns 8,972 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,634,000 after purchasing an additional 1,125 shares during the last quarter. DecisionPoint Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 25.0% in the 2nd quarter. DecisionPoint Financial LLC now owns 1,211 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $208,000 after buying an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Turiya Advisors Asia Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter worth $109,836,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.

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